


the one with the stolen teeth

by chatsdelune (greymooses)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotionally Constipated Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Established Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Kim Mingyu is Whipped, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sharing Clothes, Wisdom Teeth, ish. post-oty seoul/japan but idk if they had a break in there so grain of salt on timeline, prescription drugs are the mvp, some of the others are around, they basically already are but, verkwan mentioned a bunch but not actually present, woozi isn't so much emotionally constipated but he does overthink everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29514777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greymooses/pseuds/chatsdelune
Summary: jihoon gets his wisdom teeth removed, mingyu worries, jeonghan and seungcheol scheme.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan, Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 82





	the one with the stolen teeth

**Author's Note:**

> i started this on november 25th, got stuck, wrote a bunch of other crap, and then picked it back up for valentine's day. which obviously is no longer a thing, because this got longer than i thought it would. story of my fucking life. canon in the sense that they're like. in svt. but idk who has wisdom teeth and who doesn't basically some of the details are very sloppy so suspend some disbelief. i've missed them have some disgusting fluff idk what i'm doing but at least it's out of my brain.
> 
> just a heads up, there's some seungcheol pov. weirdly. idk where he came from but he wanted to yell in a few places (beginning, one little piece in the middle, and the end).
> 
> read through but blah blah typos/weirdness i always find something like a day later so sorry for any mistakes

_seungcheol_  
jeonghan doesn't bother knocking before letting himself into the dorm. seungcheol isn't sure what his plan was, but it doesn't really matter because jeonghan spots him in the kitchen.

he sighs as he approaches, says, "mingyu is nervous-cleaning."

mingyu wouldn't call it that, but they all know that's what it is. the dorms are only ever this spotless immediately before a comeback. seungcheol doesn't understand where he finds the energy, then or now. he shrugs.

"it's not even his dorm, seungcheol."

"he already cleaned ours."

jeonghan leans against the counter. "i see that."

"go easy on him. jihoonie had surgery and he couldn't be there."

"getting wisdom teeth removed is hardly surgery."

"there are scalpels involved," seungcheol argues. for sport, mostly.

"regardless, he could've been there. everyone would've been fine with it, including jihoon."

"you know how they are."

"astonishingly emotionally repressed?"

seungcheol cages him against the counter while he waits for his ramen to cook. "that's one way to put it."

jeonghan sticks his hands in seungcheol's hoodie pocket and sighs again. "why can't we have a group meeting and tell them they're being idiots?"

almost everyone has suggested it. seungcheol has considered it — they wouldn't be the first couple they've had to deal with — but he really doesn't want to get involved. their denial isn't causing any real friction or awkwardness.

"it would be better if they figured it out without our meddling. they're not causing issues like the kids were."

"i hate that you're right."

seungcheol smiles. "i know."

"you're going to pick him up, right?"

"why would i? this is exactly what managers are for."

jeonghan pouts. "but our precious vobo, alone and drugged and in pain."

"you have a license, too."

"i told mingyu i'd help him with laundry," jeonghan says, sounding very bored. "unless," he perks up, "is there a reason we're not making _him_ go pick up jihoon?"

"i said no meddling."

"you said no sitting them down and telling them they're idiots, not no pretending you have some emergency meeting and asking mingyu to go get his jihoonie hyung instead."

seungcheol groans.

"besides," jeonghan continues, "mingyu's his roommate. he should know about his post-op care, and what better way to make sure that happens than sending him."

seungcheol thinks about it for a moment. "okay." he unlocks his phone and sends a text to mingyu: _called to work. can you go get jihoon?_

jeonghan steals some of his ramen while they wait. "i wish i could see him gay panicking right now."

seungcheol gapes at him but he doesn't react, just pushes his hair behind his ear and steals more food. his phone pings before he can say anything — a reply from mingyu: _sure._

"this is so wrong."

"the way they aren't getting laid when they could be is so wrong, too," jeonghan says, on his way to leaving a kiss on seungcheol's cheek. "lesser of two evils."

  


_mingyu_  
"you're _so_ tall. can you reach the clouds?" jihoon asks, mostly slurring, sounding like his mouth is packed with gauze. probably because it is. he has an ice pack squished against one cheek.

"you're _so_ high."

"noooo, am short." he tries to pout, but it doesn't really work.

"you said it, not me," mingyu replies, pulling jihoon close to his side so he doesn't tip over.

"since we took all four, he has pain medication for the first few days," the surgeon tells him, handing over a packet of information and a bottle with some pills in it. "it's probably going to make him drowsy. it's all in the packet. someone should stay with him today as the anesthesia wears off."

"shouldn't be a problem," mingyu says, nodding.

he thanks the doctor, jihoon compliments his white coat, and they leave after mingyu has pulled a bucket hat down over jihoon's head. his face is so puffy that it would be hard to recognize him from a distance, but his hair is a faded pinkish color that he hasn't had time to dye back to black. that's often a dead giveaway someone is an idol, so it's better to take the precaution anyway.

they're on the way to the car when jihoon says, "want sleep. can we get a kitten?"

"no, we can't get a kitten, but you can sleep all you want once we get home," he replies calmly. it's like taking care of a drunk soonyoung.

"studio," he protests, shaking his head. or trying. "home is loud."

mingyu opens the door for him and hovers as he climbs in to make sure he doesn't hurt himself. thankfully, he's too doped up to complain. "home today. jeonghan is worried about you."

"jeonghannie hyung stole my worms."

mingyu nods sympathetically, even though the statement makes zero sense. "he does that. he's still worried about you. i'll make sure everyone is quiet tonight."

jihoon boops him on the nose, complete with sound effect, and he assumes that means okay.

  


he gets home with jihoon, tucked under his arm with cheeks looking very much like a hamster, when joshua is in the kitchen.

"shua hyuuuung, jeonghannie hyung stole my worms."

"i'm very sorry," joshua says. "i'll ask him about it."

"you're the best."

"hello? i just drove you home," mingyu whines.

jihoon tilts his head and peers up at him, quiet for a second before he says, "you're minggu." there's a certainty, a finality to it that makes his lungs forget to work.

he looks to joshua for some sort of sympathy or reassurance or help, he's not sure, but it's futile anyway. all their hyung does is shrug.

mingyu taps jihoon on the arm. "you need to change that gauze. come on."

  


the thing is.

being in love with someone you work with is bad enough. being in love with someone you share a bedroom with is arguably worse. but being in love with someone you grew through awkward teenage years with — in an entertainment company, no less — who has seen you at your best and worst and everything in between is maybe just inevitable. and maybe mingyu could say something if their job wasn't what it is. vernon and seungkwan are together and no one cares as long as it doesn't officially get out — seungcheol and jeonghan, too — but he and jihoon are different. they don't fight because of unresolved feelings. mingyu can resist the urge to walk around pouting. there's no need to disrupt the status quo.

point being, he was worried — _is_ worried — because it's all he can really do.

which is why he shut himself in the bathroom with jihoon, passed him clean gauze and waited patiently while he changed it before unnecessarily helping him to bed, and why he disappeared to get a new ice pack and some water. he almost drops the bottle on his foot and tells himself to chill the fuck out because jihoon seems fine, with the exception of some of the weird shit he's saying here and there.

… and the jacket he's trying to put on when mingyu gets back.

"i was gone for like two minutes. why are you putting a jacket on? are you cold?" mingyu asks — worries out loud, more like.

he looks so small when he's sick, and it's made worse by his penchant for poaching mingyu's clothes when he doesn't feel well — which he's done in the time mingyu was out of the room. it's too much to think about. they all steal clothes from each other once in a while. not a big deal.

"they _stole my teeth._ i have to get them back."

the anesthesia and pain medication is making him way loopier than it ever made dokyeom.

"babe, you don't need them. that's the whole point."

okay, so he slipped, but jihoon is so out of it that he probably won't remember.

"but they were mine."

mingyu puts the ice pack and water down, then gently takes the jacket away and hangs it up. jihoon is frowning at him when he turns back. there's no "jihoon is trying to escape" crisis to handle anymore and it's harder to ignore that he's absolutely swimming in one of mingyu's long-sleeved shirts.

christ.

"if you still want them back in a few days, we'll go back, okay?"

jihoon doesn't answer right away. or at all. he swivels his head, apparently scanning their shared room, because he asks, "did you clean without me?"

"half the time all you do is watch." not that he has a problem with this, but if he admits that, he might not get any help _ever._ as nice as it is to have jihoon hang around doing nothing when he's scrubbing the sink, it's nicer when he's cleaning counters next to him.

"when you're cleaning the rest of the dorm. it's called moral support," jihoon says stubbornly. "i always help in here, though. it's our thing."

mingyu really just wants him to get in bed. the sooner he's asleep, the less likely mingyu is to say something stupid. he puts his hands on jihoon's shoulders and tries to coax him in that direction, says, "you're right. i'm sorry. you can do it all next time."

instead of saying anything, he shakes mingyu's hands off his shoulders and tries to step around him.

some deeply-rooted protective instinct makes him hold an arm out to block him. "what do you want? i'll get it for you."

"i'm not a kid, mingyu," he groans. he's alarmingly lucid, all of a sudden.

"will you just let me help you?"

jihoon sighs. "i want coke."

"no coke. it's bad for the holes in your mouth."

"they stole my teeth," he mumbles. so maybe not entirely lucid.

"i know. you should rest. and probably stop talking so much."

"you're not going to let me do anything, are you?"

mingyu crosses his arms in front of his chest. "nope."

jihoon bunches his sleeves up in his hands and stares up at him, probably trying to decide if he can change his mind. most of the time he can, because mingyu is whipped, but he refuses to let it happen this time because he's _right._

"i'm not tired. can you babysit me in front of the tv instead?"

mingyu doesn't mention that he said he wanted to sleep on the way home — or get a kitten, the idea of which has been tormenting him ever since. jihoon and kittens. a kitten, period. "it's going to be louder out there with people coming and going."

"that's why i have you to scare them into silence for me."

mingyu hesitates. "i can do that," he agrees. "you'll tell me if you're sleepy, right?"

"ugh, yes."

"okay."

whipped.

sitting up is probably better for combating the swelling anyway.

  


_seungcheol_  
seungcheol creeps back into the dorm after two hours of hiding in jeonghan's room. making out with jeonghan in jeonghan's room. whatever. the details don't matter. what _does_ matter is that mingyu and jihoon are in the living room. the tv is on and mingyu's head is in jihoon's lap. he doesn't lift it to see who came in.

jihoon raises a finger to his lips in warning — one that pokes out of sleeves that are entirely too long for his arms — then quickly returns his hand to the back of mingyu's neck and his attention to the tv.

idiots. they're idiots.

  


_mingyu_  
"minggu-ya."

mingyu registers jihoon's voice, and realizes in a barely-awake haze that someone is carefully jostling him, and that's a thigh under his head. he whines anyway.

"come on," jihoon sighs. "i'm tired."

that's enough to make mingyu decide he needs to open his eyes. sitting up is harder, but he manages that, too. jihoon lets his hand fall away from his back as he does.

casual touching: something else everyone does, like the clothes stealing. jihoon a little less so except with his unit and mingyu, sure, but it's another one of those things that's too much to think about. not a big deal.

mingyu stands and offers his hands, pulling jihoon up when he grabs them. "go wash up. i'll bring everything in a minute," he mumbles as he runs his fingers through his hair, trying to remember what everything is, exactly.

jihoon makes a quiet noise of agreement and pads off to their room.

mingyu finds him asleep five minutes later. he carefully switches out his half-melted ice pack for a new one, leaves a pill and some water next to his bed, and goes through getting ready for bed himself. he falls asleep staring at jihoon, hoping he won't wake up in too much pain but that if he does, he'll be able to find the painkillers on his bedside table. 

  


_jihoon_  
jihoon isn't in his bed when he wakes up. he can tell. it smells too much like mingyu.

mingyu is probably the _thing_ glued to his back, come to think of it.

it's not the first time. sometimes shit is overwhelming. sometimes walking a few feet and sliding into mingyu's bed helps. or helped, because he's avoided it for a while now, because it's too dangerous. evidently his post-surgical, medicated self didn't care about the feelings he tries to shove down deep and avoid.

he needs to stay in his studio.

vernon's voice in his head tells him he needs to tell mingyu how he feels, actually, but that seems too difficult, so work it is.

he manages to extricate himself from mingyu's stupidly long limbs without waking him. his phone on his bedside table says it's five. it's only when he sees the pill and water next to it that he realizes his mouth _hurts._ mingyu must have left them there in case he woke up in the middle of the night. technically he _did,_ he just chose a different way to comfort himself, apparently.

he takes the pill, grabs his jacket and phone, and carefully leaves the room. he calls a manager and they agree, after a decent amount of convincing, to come pick him up. he creeps into the hallway to wait.

  


the next time jihoon wakes, it's on his sofa, and it's because there's an annoying knocking on his door. moving feels very overrated, but the knocking is starting to piss him off, so he drags himself over to open it. all he sees is chest, so it must be—

"you left your medication at the dorm," mingyu mumbles.

fucking mingyu. he's in the clothes he slept in. his voice sounds like hell, the way it does before he uses it a bunch. that usually happens pretty quickly, but apparently today is an exception. jihoon might be a little high still, or maybe not, hard to tell — his mouth doesn't really hurt yet, he doesn't think — but he definitely wants to climb him like a tree, the way he used to when they were trainees.

"i brought you a shake, too," he adds, and would you look at that, he has a cup in his hand — the one not holding a bag. "you can't use the straw, though. can i come in?"

jihoon nods once, because whatever, he's hungry and mingyu is going to be annoying and pouty if he tries to kick him out. pouty mingyu is a dangerous mingyu. he goes back to his sofa, leaving the door open. mingyu steps inside and closes it, follows him and sets everything on the table. he pulls an ice pack out of the bag and passes it to him.

"your face is rounder than usual. you should be keeping ice on it for a few more days."

it's easiest to not argue, especially when mingyu also has food, or at least the closest thing to food jihoon can consume right now. he holds the pack against the side of his face and grabs at the air between himself and the cup until mingyu takes the cover off and gives it to him. liquified chicken is liquified chicken, but it was nice of him to bring it. his only option if mingyu hadn't come would've been mushy ramen, probably. and pain.

and that's the problem. he's _so_ obnoxious, but he's jihoon's obnoxious. thoughtful, and jihoon kind of loves him anyway.

… maybe.

mingyu empties the rest of the bag — ramen and a bowl of some kind of soup and another cold pack. he leaves for a minute with the ice in hand, comes back with water instead and leaves that on the table. he gets jihoon's phone charger off his desk and plugs it in near the sofa.

… probably.

"the other cold pack is in the freezer out there. i'll leave you alone, but no coke," he warns, holding up a finger. "no straws." another one. he's trying to look intimidating, but it doesn't work on him. never really has. "if you eat ramen, let it get too soft. no rice." a third and fourth. "take the pills if you need them." a fifth. "text me if you need anything."

… fuck.

  


by evening, everyone knows where he is. it's not exactly difficult to guess.

myungho and dokyeom stop by around dinner, when jihoon is writing some lyrics he'll probably never use because he's drugged out of his mind. they bring more ramen and don't stay long, likely only dropped by to check on him as a favor to mingyu. he lets them both hug him on their way out. dokyeom in particular is very careful with him — scrutinizes his cheeks and jaw and reminds him, again, to keep ice on them. it feels like the billionth time he's heard it today.

he considers going home around two in the morning, after more pain meds have settled in and he just wants to be in his own bedroom, but the potential of climbing into mingyu's bed again and not realizing it before mingyu does is enough to stop him.

they work the way they are. have forever, and can continue to just fine. he doesn't need mingyu to become the subject of a breakup song or six.

  


mingyu comes the next morning, because of course he does. walking to the door is a little bit of a challenge, and jihoon thinks maybe he shouldn't let him in, but he has another bag and more food in liquid form and food always wins.

mingyu frowns when he sees him, says, "your face looks like shit." jihoon smacks him on the chest . he just grins — stupid grin — before he more seriously asks, "how are you feeling?"

"like someone took a wrecking ball to both sides of my face. and before you ask, yes, i took the medicine when i woke up an hour ago."

"you're not as affected as i thought you'd be," mingyu says as he follows him to the sofa. he takes the cover off the shake he brought and hands it to him.

"head is foggy and messed up."

"you sure that's not just because of me?" he asks, and it's a joke for the camera and he's grinning again. loser.

"probably," jihoon replies.

there's a pause where the only thing he can hear is his own breathing. there isn't a camera, and it's the first time he realizes his brain-to-mouth filter isn't working well. he's been alone and hasn't needed to use it.

mingyu clears his throat and picks up the bag between his feet, sets it on the table. "i brought you a change of clothes, in case you still don't want to come home." he looks sad when he says it, and it claws at some part of jihoon's chest.

"it's not that i don't want to," he mumbles.

mingyu rests a hand on his thigh. "i told you i can make sure everyone stays quiet."

what tumbles out of his mouth is instinctive word vomit: "can you make me stop thinking about kissing you?"

no thought involved. no fucking filter. and he doesn't know what he meant to say, but he's almost certain it wasn't that. it's not a big deal, though, he thinks. something mingyu will laugh off, because soonyoung and dokyeom have drunk make out sessions on more occasions than any of them would like to know about. because jihoon is basically drunk, with the medication. but he doesn't laugh. he looks at jihoon like he kicked a puppy in his presence — shocked and horrified and afraid of getting kicked himself. they've only had a handful of fights that resulted in a similar expression, and this wasn't even a fight.

"sorry, i—" he starts, but he's interrupted.

"i should go," mingyu says quickly as he stands. "keep icing your jaw. you're starting to bruise."

jihoon can't come up with words to stop him in time. he can see the headlines and tweets already: _writer and producer woozi tanks group's career._ seungcheol will be pissed.

he would text mingyu — should, because they have a rule about letting things fester that's stricter than the one their leader encourages — but he doesn't trust himself. he sends one to seungcheol instead, replaces the cover on his cup, and goes back to sleep. maybe he'll wake up and none of it will be real.

  


_mingyu_  
mingyu texted jeonghan on his way home to say he needed to talk, after taking a walk to try to shake off some of the panic. it didn't really work and he knows jeonghan is the best person for crisis management. he promised to be waiting, and he is.

"you look like shit. is jihoonie okay?"

mingyu nods on his way to the table. "he said he wants to kiss me."

jeonghan sighs. "is that all?"

"is that not enough?"

"you're freaked out," he says, avoiding the question. "why?"

"he's never— he was pretty doped up, so maybe he was just saying stuff."

"so what if he was just saying shit?" jeonghan asks. "you two do that on camera all the time." mingyu levels him with a glare. his eyes and tone soften once he realizes he's hit a nerve. "i'm not going to say a word to anyone, you know that."

mingyu runs his hands through his hair and groans. "i'm in love with him."

"thank fucking god," he mutters iimmediately. "and?"

"and we're not you and hyung, or the kids."

jeonghan stares at him for a beat before sighing again. "okay, i'm not supposed to say this, so don't tell coups, but technically we agreed on not talking to _both_ of you, so. i love the two of you, but you're fools."

"wow, thanks."

"that's not— do you honestly think he was just saying he wants to kiss you because of the medication?"

"he actually only asked if i could stop him thinking about it, as a reason he wasn't coming home."

jeonghan rolls his eyes. "not an answer."

mingyu looks down and realizes he's fiddling with his fingers. he shrugs.

jeonghan reaches across the table to hold his hands. he speaks softly again — not judging him, not worrying about the good of the group, just genuinely trying to be honest and supportive because that's who he is. "look, i hate to break it to you, but this is going to turn into a problem unless you at least talk to him. preferably do something about it, but that's up to you two. you know the risks of getting into something, but the denial isn't sustainable anymore."

"yeah, probably."

" _definitely._ at some point you'll become the same as the kids were, and seungcheol, shua and i will have to intervene. i don't think either of you would be a fan of that. maybe it was the meds, maybe he won't remember and it'll be hard as hell to talk about, but there's a reason he said it."

mingyu sighs. "okay," he says, confidently. feigned confidence, convincing himself, because it probably _will_ be okay. he knows, on some level, that jihoon likely meant it. he's pretty sure that as long as he did, everything can work out. they haven't made it this long without all the puzzle pieces that make a relationship work, mingyu just figured it was the reciprocal feelings that were missing.

jeonghan nods, just once — approval — and squeezes his fingers. "it'll be okay. if it's not, we'll get an amazing ballad out of it."

mingyu smirks and pulls his hands back, then stands. "thanks."

"you going back?"

"not this second."

"let me know if you need me again. i don't have anything going on today."

"i will."

  


_jihoon_  
jihoon woke up an hour ago with a dull ache in his mouth, but resolved to avoid painkillers. he needed a clear head. after another text to seungcheol, he came over. he dragged jihoon's desk chair to a spot opposite the sofa and waited patiently until he told him what happened. he remembers it all in excruciating detail.

seungcheol told him he's an idiot. seungcheol doesn't call them idiots often. he also told jihoon to go home. he promised he would later tonight, but he needs time to process before he sees mingyu again.

he can't decide if it's good that he's shown up now or not. it forces him to act instead of unnecessarily torturing himself any longer, at least. probably a blessing.

mingyu looks at him for a second and frowns. "can we talk?"

jihoon's stomach does a thing as he pushes the door open and turns away — either hunger or feelings. probably feelings, but he asks anyway: "no food this time?"

"sorry, just me. how's your mouth?"

jihoon almost laughs. he could find out, if he wanted to, but anyway. "a little sore. i haven't taken anything since this morning."

"do you remember earlier?"

he sighs and sits, clearing room for mingyu to as well. "yes."

"did you mean it?" he asks, so cautiously that jihoon feels miserable about causing the entire situation. for a man who very effectively weaponizes his good looks when he needs to, he can be surprisingly insecure.

"maybe."

mingyu shakes his head. "you can't maybe me on this one. it's not fair to me, us, or the members."

"i think about it, yeah. so do most of our fans, i'm sure."

"you're not most of our fans, you're one of my best friends. huge difference there."

jihoon glares. "you're the one that ran off."

"not my proudest moment, but can you blame me? the guy i've been in love with for years was under the influence and made a flippant comment about thinking about kissing me." 

jihoon sighs. this is dumb. how do people even do this? how did vernon and seungkwan do this? he doesn't want to know, on second thought. everything goes quiet until mingyu takes an audible breath and rests his hand on top of jihoon's, wrapping his fingers under his palm. "i don't want you to switch rooms with someone," he adds quietly.

"did i say i wanted to?" jihoon asks, confused. he doesn't _think_ he did, but who knows.

mingyu shakes his head. "afraid you might, if we don't fix this."

"i'm not going to swap with someone."

there's another pause, a few seconds where all jihoon can focus on is the pain. not taking anything was worth it, but he's kind of ready for it to be over. he didn't think the aftermath of oral surgery could hurt more than a day of dance practice, but it's a very localized pain. terrible.

"do you think you'd regret kissing me?" mingyu eventually asks.

jihoon smirks. "right now? yes."

"when you're not a chipmunk."

"no," he replies calmly. "not anymore."

mingyu nods — to himself, probably — and tugs on his arm, the same way he has a hundred times before. jihoon opens his mouth to turn him down, but the moment is fragile enough that he doesn't dare to. he climbs on mingyu's lap instead and sits close to his knees, hands on his chest.

"it would be so easy to tickle you right now, you know," jihoon tells him.

he rests his hands on jihoon's thighs. "you wouldn't. it wouldn't be a fair fight."

jihoon shrugs.

mingyu leans forward and lays a hand gently on the back of his neck without much warning. jihoon lets him carefully kiss one cheekbone, then the other, then his nose. he appreciates that mingyu didn't want to hurt him, but it's the cheesiest fucking thing. he loves it all the same. still, the pain is winning.

he rolls his eyes. "can i take my medication now?"

mingyu nods. "can we go home?"

jihoon climbs off his lap and reaches for the bottle he's been keeping on the table. "you might need to carry me."

"of course."

he helps jihoon get his things together afterwards, then takes his hand and leads him out. jihoon steps behind him once his studio door is shut — a signal he wants up. mingyu bends over slightly and lets him jump onto his back.

halfway home, he taps his fingers against jihoon's thigh. he's sleepy and all that comes out in acknowledgement is a noise.

"is this why you stopped crawling into my bed sometimes?" he asks.

it takes an enormous amount of energy to say, "yeah."

"i hated it. i thought you were tired of me clinging."

"no. love you."

"okay."

jihoon tightens his arms around mingyu's shoulders, says, "okay."

  
  
  
_seungcheol, post-credits_  
he doesn't bother knocking before letting himself into the dorm, because it's _his_ dorm. jeonghan follows him, hand is his, and immediately groans.

mingyu is in the kitchen, at the stove cooking something. jihoon is in a place only he could get away with — on the counter, in a collared shirt that clearly belongs to mingyu.

it's been a week since they came home and told him they sorted out their shit. they had a group meeting, which seemed more awkward for the two of them than it was for anyone else. they've been this disgusting almost every day since. jihoon can eat most solid foods again. mingyu cooks for him. seungcheol is used to it at this point. the shirt thievery is a consistent occurrence, always over shorts that it almost covers, but so far as he can tell it's a comfort thing. he's close enough to jihoon that he doesn't want to think too much about their sex life, but he's pretty sure it doesn't exist yet.

"nice date?" mingyu asks, not bothering to look up from the stove.

jihoon turns and waves at them.

"if i had known it was going to be like this, i wouldn't have helped you," jeonghan complains. likely in mingyu's direction.

seungcheol laughs. "you act like we weren't like this, too."

"yeah, but that was years ago, when they were _tiny_. they're practically our children. shua would understand," he sighs. "they're not even paying attention to us."

they're not, or don't seem to be — mingyu doesn't look away from the stove and jihoon is scrolling on his phone, humming — until mingyu puts his chopsticks down and steps between jihoon's legs, taking his face carefully in his hands and kissing him for longer than is strictly necessary.

"ew," jeonghan whines. "i'm going upstairs. come up if you want."

when the door shuts, jihoon cackles. mingyu's giggle mixes in with it.

seungcheol rolls his eyes. "get all of this energy out before we have more public schedules, kids," he warns. "preferably, you know, in your shared bedroom instead of the kitchen."

jihoon nods solemnly.

"good night, hyung," mingyu chirps, totally ignoring the gravitas of the situation.

jihoon laughs again.

seungcheol sighs and lets himself out.

  
  
  
_post-post-credits_  
"you still think lying to get mingyu to pick jihoon up was less wrong than them not getting laid?"

"i _will_ break up with you if you keep making me think about our kids fucking."

"they could be vernon and seungkwan."

"i had blocked that period of time out of my memory, thank you. divorced granted."

  


**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> thanks if you made it here. <3 back to the wonhui hellbeast i go.


End file.
